Thanks to one person (Reader SF), the owner of this property has been cited for 24 separate code violations by Baltimore Housing. The home is occupied as a rooming house (some would say flophouse), with people living in the unfinished basement, in dangerous conditions. The tenant who was living in the cellar filed a rent escrow complaint with the District Court of Baltimore City, but the complaint was dismissed. Unfortunately, this is a story we hear far too often — our District Court judges need to pay more attention to these complaints, and take these cases seriously when the tenant has documentation to back up their claims. Nobody should be forced to live in uninhabitable dangerous conditions, only to be told by a judge “Too bad.”

The code violations are as follows:

Hallway at top of basement steps: Defective floor

Basement steps: Area lacks proper protection

Basement steps: Defective stair riser(s)

Basement rear wall: Defective wall

Throughout basement: Illegal extension cords

Basement rear ceiling: Defective electrical fixture

Basement front: Multiple defective electrical outlets

Basement front: Defective water pipe

Dining room wall: Defective electrical outlet

First floor kitchen: Defective floor

First floor kitchen ceiling: Defective ceiling

First floor kitchen: Fuse box missing

First floor kitchen: Windows or doors not weatherproof

First floor kitchen: Defective door hardware

First floor kitchen: Defective electrical outlet

Rear second floor bathroom: Window glass cracked or missing

Rear second floor bathroom: Defective toilet

Throughout second floor bathroom: Defective walls

Rear basement: Cellar being used as habitable space

The owner, an LLC, has been given 30 days to correct all violations, and has also been ordered to stop allowing people to live in the cellar. You can read the violation notice, in its entirety, by downloading this PDF file.

This is just one of hundreds of unsafe, unhealthy homes I heard about in 2014. Our elected officials need to do more to hold these property owners accountable. Many times the residents won’t complain out of fear of retaliation and being evicted (link opens a PDF) — but this resident complained, and most likely — she and her family will have to move. Why should our most vulnerable residents bear the burden of unsafe and unhealthy housing when we have laws in place to stop property owners like this one? Hold these folks accountable, and demand that our state and local government enforce the laws intended to protect residents from unsafe housing.

Baltimore Housing filed for receivership of this home in June of this year — Sanford Kreisler has been featured here before, and has dozens of cases filed against him for housing code violations, foreclosures, and lead paint.

This property is the subject of a foreclosure case from 2013 that was recently reopened. There have been no changes made to this property other than the tree that is now growing in the basement and sprouting out one of the windows. Hopefully this property can be torn down or rehabbed, as it’s an eyesore on an otherwise decent block.

One of the best things about doing this project is the way I get to watch neighbors take charge of their neighborhood — or at least their block. This gem was submitted by a South Baltimore neighbor who writes:

Recently, the city sent residents of this hidden street a notice of potential fines if the sidewalk in front of their property was not fixed to their standards. One neighbor who did not obey received a $4,000 fine. It’s ridiculous that the city has time to send notices and fines for sidewalk conditions, but can’t send a slum lord a notice or fine about his or her rat-infested property.

Dear Reader, I couldn’t agree more. Fining residents $4000 for having a sidewalk in disrepair, when a property owner is allowed to leave a property in disrepair — one they’ve owned since 1998.

The owner of this property also owns Pizza Time in Morrell Park — what is it with owners of pizza joints and slum property?? The company charter has been forfeited.